Download Activism and Social Persuasion

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S OCI A L P E RSUASI ON
E R I K CHE V R IER
N OV E MBER 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
Activism and Social Persuasion
Effective activists use a variety of social persuasion tools. This class will provide an overview of
these tools.
Media Effects
Media effects research usually describes the
reception/reading of codes/forms/texts
Receivers are also affected by (and have an
effect on)
◦ Media organizations and technology
◦ Political and socio-economic environment
How are you Affected by Media
General Examples
Very basic examples of how I can affect your emotional state via video
◦ Example 1
◦ Example 2
◦ Example 3
Small variations in media texts produce different interpretations
◦ Example
People are fallible
◦ Example
What do people learn from media?
◦ Example
Looking at Nesbitt-Larking
Moral panic
Magic bullet/hypodermic
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War of the Worlds
War of Worlds follow up
Manufacturing Consent
Colin Powell Speech about Weapons of Mass
Destruction
◦ Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of Will – Nazi
Propaganda Video
◦ Donald Trump Pledge
Limited effects/uses and gratifications
◦ Two-step communication flow/discursive
elaboration
◦ Selective attention/cognitive beliefs/selective
recall
Critical perspective
◦ Freedom within determining conditions
◦ Personality
◦ Polysemic
◦ Gendered reading formations
◦ Ontological
Engagement with Media
Learning Theories
Social modeling
Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
Internal vs external motivation
Priming/Framing/Schema
COGNITIVE MODEL
SCHEMA
The Psychology of Influence
Robert Cialdini
Six weapons of influence
1 – Reciprocation
2 – Commitment and consistency
3 – Social proof
4 – Liking
5 – Authority
6 – Scarcity
The Power of Suggestion
An Inquiry Into How People Are Affected by Profuse Amounts of Publicity: A Multidisciplinary Approach
Advertising as a suggestion – Page 26
Suggestions can bypass critical thought because there is no direct request to
conflict with
Changing Values and Attitudes
Values:
Cognitive dissonance:
Desirable, trans-situational goals, varying in
importance, that serve as a guiding principles
in people’s lives
Cognitive dissonance is a state of psychological
tension occurring when thoughts, beliefs,
attitudes, and/or behaviours are in conflict
with each other.
Attitudes:
An internal state that, given the occurrence of
certain stimulus events, will ultimately result
in some sort of response or behaviour.
Key Factors:
Ratio of dissonance
Importance of factors in dissonance
Avoiding dissonance
1 – Modify
2 – Change importance
3 – Rationalize
4 – Add new consonant beliefs to bolster
Compliance Techniques
Foot in the door:
An individual who agrees to carry out a small request is subsequently more likely to agree to carry out a
larger request
Door in the face/reciprocal concessions:
When the person making the larger request reduces it to a smaller one, the other person feels obliged to
make a matching concession
Low-ball/bait and switch:
When an agreement is made, the offer reduces in value
Improving the deal:
When a product is offered at a high price, then after a brief pause, another product is offered to the deal or
the price is reduced
Guilt:
People comply to reduce feelings of guilt
Factors that Help Influence
Groupthink
◦ In group vs out group
◦ Conformity to group
◦ Social Roles – Stanford prison experiment
Physical Factors
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Appearance/attractiveness
Likability
Similarities
Non-verbal communication
Emotional Appeal
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Fear
Sadness
Embarrassment
Confidence
Savvy Media Consumer Appeal:
◦ Honest about media influence
Contagion:
◦ When large crowds form, people may behave in
ways that is extreme and unlike their normal
behaviour